From Parliament House: The House of Representatives was dominated today by the necessary and important reading of the names of the victims of the recent Islamist-inspired massacre at Bondi. Many of the families and friends of victims attended the ‘Victims of the Bondi antisemitic terror attack – Condolence motion’. Our Parliament is an important place for such symbolism.

Originally, both Houses were recalled for a special sitting for the condolence motion but also to pass laws designed to prevent such horrific terrorist acts from occurring again. The condolence motion saw normal business suspended until each member had had their say, and then the House would adjourn until Tuesday to debate the new laws.

However, the wheels fell off the Albanese government’s omnibus legislation in the lead-up to the special sitting. Both the Coalition and the Greens have vowed not to support the hate speech aspects of the bill which means it won’t get through the Senate tomorrow. Labor has therefore split the hate speech reforms from the gun control laws with the support of the Greens.

There was some spark from the Opposition today. In her speech, Sussan Ley stated:

‘Antisemitic hate fuelled the terrorists on December 14, but it came out of the shadows in October 2023. It walked our streets. It marched over our bridges. It took over our landmarks. It camped in university quadrangles. It painted graffiti on our buildings. It firebombed our places of worship. It sent children to school behind locked gates and armed guards like a slow, creeping disease. It fed in plain sight.’

Unlike Labor members who were unable to utter the words ‘Islamic terrorism’, Ley was up front and clear:

‘Radical Islamist extremism caused this. I repeat. Radical Islamist extremism caused this. Leaders need to be able to express this clearly because if you can’t name the problem, you can’t possibly defeat it.’

There was much coming and going in the House, with many deals no doubt being done for tomorrow in what will be a ‘guillotine’ bill. Such bills, if they are not agreed to by a set time, are to be put to the vote even if the debate is not finished. That is what we can expect tomorrow.

Today, however, Parliament reminded me of an old story about different leadership styles attributed to the Prussian Field Marshall von Moltke. Moltke’s model classifies leaders’ intelligence as smart or dumb and initiative as energetic and lazy. Smart and lazy leaders are the best because they find the easiest way to achieve the most difficult things. Smart and energetic leaders are good at detailed planning while dumb and lazy leaders are fine if limited to mundane functions. But the worst kind of leader is dumb and energetic.

Dumb and energetic leaders get busy doing stupid things. These leaders often leave legacies that are difficult to undo.

That’s how Parliament felt to me today. Aside from the respectful symbolism addressed by today’s session, the rest of it was dumb and energetic leadership focusing on the wrong things.

It was obvious in the little things. Dr Mike Freelander, Labor MP for Macarthur, for example, referred to the murderers at Bondi not only as ‘antisemitic’, but ‘anti-civilisation’. He went on to say:

‘These people need to be rooted out no matter where they come from. And it’s not just Muslim extremism. We have extreme right-wing Neo-Nazis who want to do the same and they must be rooted out.’

The hate speech laws are set to go from a direct focus on antisemitism to a much broader focus on LGBT and disabled discrimination, as proposed by the Greens. Sussan Ley has also indicated she will work with the government on a watered-down version of the hate laws based on the idea of freedom of speech.

But the whole point that has been missed is the Islamist terrorism that occurred at Bondi. Neo-Nazi groups are disbanding because their insignia is too obvious (and in most instances is already banned). Whereas Hizb ut-Tahrir, a group outlawed in the UK, Asia, and the Middle East, has claimed it ‘cannot be banned’.

Hizb ut-Tahrir has claimed it wants to establish an Islamic state with Sharia law.

Back in 2014, for example, Tony Abbott was calling for laws to prevent ‘hate preachers’ from entering Australia. He was ‘frustrated and angry’ and stated:

‘We’ve looked at banning [Hizb ut-Tahrir], but we were advised under existing law we can’t do it.’

At the time, one Australian academic wrote that banning Hizb ut-Tahrir:

‘…potentially would be interpreted by some Muslims as an attempt to stifle dissenting voices within the Muslim community.’

A decade later, we are struggling to develop laws to protect peace, cohesion, and security inside Australia.

Some of the amendments posed are, at the very least, perplexing and expand the laws well beyond concerns relating to Islamic terror.

How anyone can connect the murder of innocent people with LGBT discrimination, for example, makes no sense whatsoever. And tomorrow the most likely thing we will get is a raft of new laws that make it more difficult for farmers and sporting shooters to use the tools they need. For a once great sporting nation with sharpshooters who punched above their weight in the first world war, the over-reach on gun laws is nothing less than misdirection.

Senator Bridget McKenzie has been vocal about the proposed gun laws and shared a petition on social media ‘to say no to Labor’s unfair gun laws’. Senator McKenzie is regarded as an ‘outspoken supporter of the shooting sports and recreational hunting’.

Today, I asked her about the gun laws and how we went from protecting against Islamist terrorism to cracking down on legitimate gun owners while abandoning the laws that addressed antisemitism.

Senator McKenzie responded:

‘The Prime Minister has consistently failed to rise to the test of leadership necessary to support the community heal following the horrific attack on 14 December. He has resisted recognising the real cause of the Bondi terror attack, which is Islamic extremism.

‘Incredibly, he has turned instead on the million or more law-abiding Australian gun owners.

‘Even a cursory look at attacks by Islamic terrorists will show that they have used trucks, home-made bombs, pressure cookers, and kitchen knives as weapons in attacks here and overseas.

‘We will be voting against Labor’s firearms laws and moving amendments to ameliorate the worst parts of the legislation.’

Regrettably, the gun laws will likely succeed tomorrow with the support of the Greens.

As I sat in the empty press gallery in the House, looking over a very empty chamber, I watched Barnaby Joyce rise to speak. Echoing what concerned me today, he stated:

‘We’re saying we’re sorry, we empathise with you but we’re not actually changing anything.’

Our government tomorrow will tighten up gun laws that will only impact legitimate shooters.

The problem is that the only tool our politicians seem to have is more laws. Criminals and terrorists don’t give a toss about laws.

Mirroring Moltke’s worst kind of leadership, our government is stupidly and energetically doing all the wrong things. I’m sure there will be plenty of spin tomorrow, but not one bit of it will enable our national security agencies to protect us from Islamist terrorists.

On the long trip home from Parliament House, I couldn’t get the foul taste out of my mouth. Usually, it is a privilege to have such access to our political system. But not today.

Dr Michael de Percy @FlaneurPolitiq is the Spectator Australia’s Canberra Press Gallery Correspondent. If you would like to support his writing, or read more of Michael, please visit his website.